This book is what I would call bloody brilliant. I never read Frankly in Love. Never really wanted to.* I didn’t even really have more than a passing interest in Super Fake Love Song. But then I entered a giveaway through BookishFirst because the excerpt was good and why not. And boy am I glad I did, because, at the risk of repeating myself, this book is bloody brilliant.
*having read Super Fake Love Song, I now definitely want to read Frankly in Love
"I loved track. Track fulfilled the physical education requirements with almost no effort."
The thing that makes this book so brilliant is David Yoon’s writing style. It perfectly conveys what it means to be in high school. What it means if you are not an athlete, or a popular kid. What it means if you are, in fact, a nerd.
The invisibility that comes with being good enough at school in a horde of students* is wonderfully evident in Super Fake Love Song. You do the assignments. You check boxes so you can spend your time doing who know’s what (in Sunny’s case, he knows, and it’s LARP and DIY Fantasy FX and various other nerdy things).
I don’t know. That particular aspect of this book just really struck home for me. And I’m reasonably sure this is true of many of the other people who read this book. Sunny’s voice is so perfectly a teenager’s and it is absolutely glorious. His character development is top notch and the discussion of identity really resonated with me. More so than in any other book I’ve read recently.
"Sometimes I just feel like I’m appearing in the same place. Again and again. Just alternate realities in an infinite multiverse."
Despite my love for this book, despite my love for the writing and the story and the message and Sunny’s character development, the one place it was lacking—the one place that will probably matter the most to a lot of people—is the romance.
Sure, Cirrus was cute. And they were cute together. But the romance just felt like the melody of a song. It was important. It kicked the story off. But after that? It faded to the background. And maybe that’s the way it was supposed to be, but I felt it was a little strange. Despite everything being about Cirrus, Cirrus (and thereby the romance) felt muted. It didn’t really bother me, I just thought it was a bit odd.
All in all though, I thought this was brilliant. It has its flaws (like anything), but it’s primarily a stunning, impactful read. Still, this isn’t really a book I’d recommend universally. I think most people would enjoy it, but I think the place it’s going to be most widely praised is by people like me—teenagers.
HAZARD WARNING: this story is built on a lie, so be aware that there WILL be a tight feeling in your chest the whole time.
*having read Super Fake Love Song, I now definitely want to read Frankly in Love
"I loved track. Track fulfilled the physical education requirements with almost no effort."
The thing that makes this book so brilliant is David Yoon’s writing style. It perfectly conveys what it means to be in high school. What it means if you are not an athlete, or a popular kid. What it means if you are, in fact, a nerd.
The invisibility that comes with being good enough at school in a horde of students* is wonderfully evident in Super Fake Love Song. You do the assignments. You check boxes so you can spend your time doing who know’s what (in Sunny’s case, he knows, and it’s LARP and DIY Fantasy FX and various other nerdy things).
I don’t know. That particular aspect of this book just really struck home for me. And I’m reasonably sure this is true of many of the other people who read this book. Sunny’s voice is so perfectly a teenager’s and it is absolutely glorious. His character development is top notch and the discussion of identity really resonated with me. More so than in any other book I’ve read recently.
"Sometimes I just feel like I’m appearing in the same place. Again and again. Just alternate realities in an infinite multiverse."
Despite my love for this book, despite my love for the writing and the story and the message and Sunny’s character development, the one place it was lacking—the one place that will probably matter the most to a lot of people—is the romance.
Sure, Cirrus was cute. And they were cute together. But the romance just felt like the melody of a song. It was important. It kicked the story off. But after that? It faded to the background. And maybe that’s the way it was supposed to be, but I felt it was a little strange. Despite everything being about Cirrus, Cirrus (and thereby the romance) felt muted. It didn’t really bother me, I just thought it was a bit odd.
All in all though, I thought this was brilliant. It has its flaws (like anything), but it’s primarily a stunning, impactful read. Still, this isn’t really a book I’d recommend universally. I think most people would enjoy it, but I think the place it’s going to be most widely praised is by people like me—teenagers.
HAZARD WARNING: this story is built on a lie, so be aware that there WILL be a tight feeling in your chest the whole time.